An Alberta energy company plans to piggyback an ethanol plant and biogas facility onto its $2.5 billion heavy oil upgrader and refinery in northern Alberta.
Peace River Oil plans to build the biofuel facility as part of its Bluesky project near McLennan.
Wheat from local farmers will be used to create ethanol. The byproducts of the ethanol process would go through an anaerobic digester to create biogas, which in turn will create electricity to power the plant.
“As PRO strives to lead the way in terms of environmental stewardship, we are thrilled to include biofuel as part of the Bluesky project,” said president Don Allan in a news release.
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The $160 million ethanol plant and biogas facility was announced in conjunction with Econcept Bio-Energy Corp. of Kelowna, B.C.
Econcept’s EnviroPlus process allows the ethanol facility to operate without high cost fossil fuel, a barrier to most ethanol production.
The company expects to produce 140 million litres of ethanol per year. Initially this production will be sold, but will eventually be blended with fuel produced by the 50,000 barrel a day refinery.
The plant’s biogas facility is expected to generate 160,000 megawatts of power per hour, which could either power a portion of the Bluesky project or be sold to the power grid.
The permit and regulation process is expected to take 18 months to complete.
Construction is expected to start as early as spring 2008.
